Archive: Extra Credit
Why I hope others get to algebra sooner than I did
[This is my Local Living column for Nov. 5, 2009] Sputnik got me into algebra early, almost. The Soviet satellite frightened the U.S. government into approving lots of money to accelerate math instruction just as I was completing eighth...
By Jay Mathews | November 5, 2009; 01:53 PM ET | Comments (3)
Is America's best school too good for grade point bonuses?
Note to readers: Thursday the Post launches its new Local Living section, which will include a bonus Class Struggle column each week from me. That means my weekly Thursday Extra Credit column answering reader questions is no more, since...
By Jay Mathews | October 22, 2009; 02:00 AM ET | Comments (17)
An Unmentionable Factor in College Admissions
In a recent posting on the comments page of last week's Friday Trends column [Will Advanced Placement Replace the SAT?] on this blog, a reader identifying herself as Crimsonwife asked a good question:...
By Jay Mathews | September 2, 2009; 02:26 PM ET | Comments (5)
Should Advanced Elementary Students Be Bussed to a Middle School?
Dear Extra Credit: I am a former Montgomery County public schools employee, a parent of two in the system and a lifelong educator. An accelerated math program is presenting a unique challenge for the whole system. As a parent,...
By Washington Post Editors | June 18, 2009; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (1)
Extra Credit: What Sort of Family Wants Stories Like This?
Dear Extra Credit: I am a soon-to-be stepmother to a lovely 12-year-old girl. She recently brought home a bright pink book with yellow smiley faces on the cover titled "TTYL" (Talk To You Later, in text/Internet-speak). The author is Lauren...
By Washington Post Editors | June 11, 2009; 03:12 PM ET | Comments (9)
Extra Credit: There's a Place for Cut-and-Paste Learning, And It's Not Fourth Grade
Dear Extra Credit: Because you asked, I think I can give you a fairly clear example of how the emphasis on testing is taking over instructional methods. I have three children in Fairfax County schools. When my sons (now...
By Washington Post Editors | June 4, 2009; 12:52 PM ET | Comments (3)
Extra Credit: Unorthodox Approaches to Apathetic Students
Dear Extra Credit: Maria Glod's May 6 article on dual enrollment ["College-School Partnerships Offer Head Start on Higher Education"] made me think that you might enjoy learning about parents who have begun to think outside the box when it comes...
By Washington Post Editors | May 28, 2009; 11:56 AM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: With All This Weight, What Student Needs an Anchor?
Dear Extra Credit: This is in response to the reader who questioned why more schools with block schedules don't have "anchor days" on Mondays, where students have every class. The short answer: My high-schooler can barely manage her backpack with...
By Washington Post Editors | May 28, 2009; 10:46 AM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: Providing Equal Access to Full-Day Kindergarten
In the education-reform shopping mall, the product moving fastest off the shelves appears to be early-childhood programs. Florida voters were so eager for pre-kindergarten classes that they passed a statewide ballot measure they could not afford. Similar measures have...
By Washington Post Editors | May 14, 2009; 03:06 PM ET | Comments (14)
Extra Credit: Do Schools Push High Performing Kids Too Hard?
Dear Extra Credit: My daughter is extremely bright and was an early reader. She loved kindergarten. When she started first grade, she struggled with the writing -- not what to write, but with the actual writing. She was frustrated because,...
By Washington Post Editors | May 7, 2009; 12:59 PM ET | Comments (3)
Extra Credit: Is High-Stakes Testing Really the Answer?
Dear Extra Credit: You said that introducing high-stakes testing in kindergarten "appears to have produced significant gains in reading and math achievement for students in this age group." ["The Pressure Is On, and the Kids Suffer in Kindergarten," March...
By Washington Post Editors | May 7, 2009; 10:26 AM ET | Comments (7)
Extra Credit: English May Not Always Be the Language of the Internet
Dear Extra Credit: Cassandra Rosado said, "in this shrinking world, in which new generations increasingly converse in English on the Internet, is it the best use of our students' time to require two or three years of a foreign language...
By Washington Post Editors | April 30, 2009; 05:15 PM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: The Case for Stronger Foreign Language Requirements
Dear Extra Credit: I'm not sure what the local high school foreign language requirements are, but I'd be willing to bet they're nowhere near stiff enough. We need more foreign language speakers, of more languages, and we need them badly....
By Washington Post Editors | April 30, 2009; 03:07 PM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: A Proposal for Restructuring Language Classes
Dear Extra Credit: I could not agree more with Cassandra Rosado ["Proper Grammar Is Not a Prerequisite for AP English," March 12] about not needing a foreign language class in high school. My son is in Spanish 2 and...
By Washington Post Editors | April 30, 2009; 01:01 AM ET | Comments (2)
Extra Credit: School Systems Aren't Always Educated on Home Schooling
Dear Extra Credit Readers: A home-schooling parent said that I could share her letter to Montgomery County School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. It reveals that the misinformation home-schoolers have to deal with can sometimes come even from the county...
By Washington Post Editors | April 23, 2009; 02:27 AM ET | Comments (4)
Extra Credit: Should State Schools Give Free Rides to Non-State Residents?
Dear Extra Credit: As the father of a recent graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland, I can attest to the charm of the St. Mary's campus and the nurturing educational environment. But as someone who has paid $80,000 in...
By Washington Post Editors | April 16, 2009; 11:31 AM ET | Comments (1)
Extra Credit: AP Vs. IB
Dear Extra Credit: have been following the Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate debate. I have a grandson who is a junior in an IB program in Northern Virginia. I have had the honor of reading several of the papers he was required...
By Washington Post Editors | April 16, 2009; 02:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Extra Credit: Teach to the Test or Not?
Dear Extra Credit: The home-schooling parents who criticize public schools' teaching to the test have a point. Because of federal and state mandates, schools do teach to the test, and I believe that approach tends to stunt conceptual learning and,...
By Washington Post Editors | April 15, 2009; 05:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: Issues With Block Scheduling?
Dear Extra Credit: For the past two years, my son attended Herndon High School part time for advanced math classes, and we found the ABABA BABAB schedule confusing. We had to frequently check the master schedule, as a given day...
By Washington Post Editors | April 2, 2009; 02:39 PM ET | Comments (4)
Extra Credit: Judging Teacher Performance
Dear Extra Credit: After reading the comments made by Barbara Bancroft Stein ["Are Older Teachers Too Jaded to Be Effective?" Feb. 19], I was uplifted. Finally, someone who actually gets it. Her words rung with the resonance of truth that...
By Washington Post Editors | April 2, 2009; 01:36 PM ET | Comments (1)
Extra Credit: Perplexing Test Scores
Dear Extra Credit: We recently received the results of the Degrees of Reading Power test for our sixth-grader, and I am perplexed by the letter from Arlington public schools that accompanied the test results, just as I was when our...
By Washington Post Editors | April 2, 2009; 10:34 AM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: Students Speak Out on AP and the Challenge Index
Dear Extra Credit Readers: Advanced Placement English teacher Allison Beers asked her 11th-grade students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Prince George's County to critique my annual rankings, in The Washington Post and Newsweek, of public high schools. I use...
By Washington Post Editors | March 26, 2009; 09:43 AM ET | Comments (12)
Extra Credit: Damaging Changes in Kindergarten?
Dear Extra Credit: We have two sets of twins who are in fourth grade and kindergarten at a well-regarded public school in Bowie. The difference I see in the four years since my older children were in kindergarten is astounding....
By Washington Post Editors | March 19, 2009; 09:18 AM ET | Comments (6)
Proper Grammar Is Not a Prerequisite for AP English
Dear Extra Credit: I have no children in county schools at this point, but I read Extra Credit fairly faithfully and remember debates about Advanced Placement courses and which students could be in them, should be in them or perhaps...
By Washington Post Editors | March 12, 2009; 10:16 AM ET | Comments (4)
Check Your Assumptions at the Home-School Door
Dear Extra Credit: Did you purposefully misrepresent Daneen Smedile's letter of Jan. 15? Her letter addressed how she got over the guilt of sending her son to school instead of educating him at home. Your choice of headline tarnished her...
By Washington Post Editors | March 5, 2009; 03:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
Extra Credit: Don't Count on College Credits For AP, IB Courses
Dear Extra Credit: Why take International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement courses? This topic has been and will continue to be debated for a long time. The ideal reason would be to take challenging courses. As a former AP teacher, present-day...
By Washington Post Editors | February 26, 2009; 10:07 AM ET | Comments (2)
Extra Credit: Are Older Teachers Too Jaded to Be Effective?
Dear Extra Credit: I read the tribute to Michael and Virginia Spevak, a murdered couple, in the Dec. 1 Metro section, in which your column on the new principal at Shaw Middle School at Garnet-Patterson ["New D.C. Principal, Hand-Picked Team...
By Washington Post Editors | February 19, 2009; 10:07 AM ET | Comments (14)
Extra Credit: Safeguarding the Standards for GED Testing
Dear Extra Credit: As former students and educators, we at GED Testing Service certainly understand that some academic subjects can be more challenging than others. The GED tests, however, are designed to measure outcomes of a national high school curriculum....
By Washington Post Editors | February 12, 2009; 10:22 AM ET | Comments (0)
Extra Credit: Two Radically Different AP Experiences
Dear Extra Credit Readers: Here are two students with sharply different views of Advanced Placement, the program of college-level courses and testing in high school. Who is right? Dear Extra Credit: Concerning your Nov. 3 column ["Wide Access to AP,...
By Washington Post Editors | February 5, 2009; 12:05 PM ET | Comments (3)
Extra Credit: Finding a Solution to the IB vs. AP Dilemma
Dear Extra Credit: My son is attending an International Baccalaureate high school in Fairfax County, and I have been reading with interest the discussions regarding IB vs. Advanced Placement. A colleague who lives in the Charlotte area also has a...
By Washington Post Editors | January 29, 2009; 01:36 PM ET | Comments (0)
Excluding Home-Schoolers Benefits Nobody
Dear Extra Credit: Eight years ago, our kids' elementary schools could not or would not meet their academic needs, so we began our journey into home schooling. Unfortunately, Maryland, where we live, has long been unfriendly to nontraditional forms of...
By Washington Post Editors | January 22, 2009; 01:23 PM ET | Comments (0)
Parent Says Some Things Can't Be Taught at Home
Dear Extra Credit: I don't have anything against home schooling -- for other people -- but I could not see myself doing it for my three children. I am quite capable of coordinating and conducting lessons, but I cannot see...
By Washington Post Editors | January 15, 2009; 01:13 PM ET | Comments (1)
The Balance Sheet on Requiring Advanced Math
Dear Extra Credit: Referring to your Oct. 30 column ["In the Real World, Advanced Math Doesn't Always Add Up"], you might not use the specific tools of mathematics every day, but where else in your academic career do you learn...
By Washington Post Editors | January 8, 2009; 01:08 PM ET | Comments (0)
Advanced Math Is a Challenge. What's Wrong With That?
Dear Extra Credit Readers: Jerry W. Miller's suggestion ["In the Real World, Advanced Math Doesn't Always Add Up," Oct. 30] that schools might be requiring too much math inspired so many letters that I needed several extra fingers and toes...
By Washington Post Editors | December 18, 2008; 12:58 PM ET | Comments (0)
Betting Against a Big Drop in Graduation Rates
Dear Extra Credit: A side effect of the High School Assessments requirement in Maryland will be that the Challenge Index rank will improve significantly for Maryland public schools, even though the schools might not have improved. Consider, for example, a...
By Washington Post Editors | December 4, 2008; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (0)
What is Extra Credit?
Jay Mathews answers readers' questions on education in a column published in The Extras. To check out more of Jay's Extra Credit advice or submit your own question, visit his Extra Credit posts....
By Washington Post Editors | November 30, 2008; 10:41 AM ET | Comments (0)
